


Weregild

by borrowedphrases



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: M/M, Mid-Canon, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:02:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8861917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borrowedphrases/pseuds/borrowedphrases
Summary: Taiga buys his way back into Dan's life.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [guava](https://archiveofourown.org/users/guava/gifts).



> Takes place at the end of episode three, and expands upon the final scene with Dan and Taiga.

Dan's office is as flashy as Taiga remembers, possibly even more tacky and _kitsch_. There are new gadgets and toys, figurines and screens. The brightness and colors hadn't bothered him so much in the past, but now it feels almost blinding, makes his corneas ache. He rubs at his eyes, the sudden dryness making even the act of blinking feel abrasive. 

He steps past the cushioned seating area and into the main office, shouldering the heavy bag he carted with him from his derelict hospital all the way to the Genm Corp offices. Dan doesn't look up from his desk when Taiga enters, but he can tell Dan knows he has company by his posture; the set of his shoulders tensing ever so slightly, his lips pressing together a bit more tightly together, the movement of his fingers across his keyboard becoming more pointed and precise. 

"As I recall," Dan begins, his tone smooth, almost cordial, eyes still focused on his computer screen. "I had orders left at the reception desk that you were never to set foot in this building again."

"You need better security." Taiga steps up to the ping pong table in the middle of the room, turning around and half sitting on, half leaning against, the edge of it. He opens his bag and begins to unload its contents. Stacks and stacks of crisp clean papers, yen he hasn't even fully counted yet, just gathered together in the hopes of... he isn't even really sure. It's not like he thinks he needs redemption, or wants to get back at Genm and CR. He wants revenge on the Bugster he failed against, sure, but it's more than that, something he hasn't been able to fully sort out for himself, not even with five years of wondering.

"And you also need a Rider who has actual _experience_ fighting Bugsters." Everything he's managed to earn in all that time amasses onto the top of the table in a giant pile of wealth. Dan's eyes finally rise from his computer screen, not to gaze at Taiga, but he is watching the money as it falls onto his table, his face passive and calculating.

When he finally looks at Taiga he smiles, lacing his fingers together and leaning forward, the far too charming smile on his face showing his annoyingly perfect teeth. "Hanaya-sensei, you're quite something."

The use of his old honorific slithers inside Taiga, pools in his stomach for a moment like hot, churning bile. He holds onto the sensation for half a second, then lets it pass from him as he turns his face away from Dan and picks up the last three stacks of bills. "You need money to develop new games, don't you?"

Dan responds as Taiga hoped, rising from his desk and gathering a gashat from its case. He circles around his desk, retrieving a spare driver - probably not a spare, probably a very intentional duplicate, but was it originally intended for him, or someone else? - and presenting both items to Taiga. 

"Do you want to save the patients as a doctor?" Dan questions, the hint of a cool smile playing at his lips. "Or..."

Taiga doesn't hesitate to take the driver and gashat from Dan. He's come this far, he's not backing down now. If this is his chance to become a Rider again, he's going to take it, no matter what the real price ends up being. He's lost everything else already. He lost his license, his job, his good name, his place within CR, his _life_. If all he can get back is this, this stupidly flashy belt and game cartridge, he's going to take it. He's going to use it. He's going to win.

"I want to win." Taiga answers, his voice feeling oddly heavy in his throat. He tries to swallow the thickness, tries to ease the lump that's formed there, but he's having little success, and it's made even worse a moment later when Dan moves.

He steps right up in front of Taiga, leaning in close, eyes practically unblinking as he stares Taiga down. Taiga remains unmoving for the most part, his butt still resting atop the ping pong table, hands still holding his driver and gashat. His feet slide slightly across the floor, making room for one of Dan's between them. Dan continues to slip further into his space, leaning forward, his knee almost touching one of Taiga's thighs.

"I must warn you, Hanaya- _sensei_ ," Dan practically sing songs the old honorific, making a chill run along Taiga's spine. "If you do this again, you may lose much more than a license this time."

Dan is so close to him that Taiga can feel the warmth of his breath against his lips, can smell the scents of menthol cigarette and expensive aftershave. He can see the beginnings of a five o'clock shadow across the top of Dan's lip and along his jaw, and see where he nicked himself shaving this morning near the place where his pulse thunders in his throat. 

"I would hate," Dan begins, then pauses, gaze drifting downwards as his hands come up. His fingers glide along the front of Taiga's shawl, the tips of his thumbs brushing lightly against Taiga's collarbones, drawing a shiver from him. His hands make it to the loose knot, hovering there for a moment. "I would hate to see you lose _everything_ you have left, Hanaya-sensei."

Dan's hands grip the ends of the shawl and slowly start to tug, drawing the closure tighter around Taiga's shoulders, then farther up. Taiga swallows hard as the knot slides upwards over his clavicle, tighter and tighter until he can feel it against his throat. His senses are on fire, weirdly heightened. The usually soft fabric feels rough and scratchy against his skin, made even worse when he swallows, his Adam's apple making the knot feel properly constrictive. He barely dares to breathe, uncertain of exactly where Dan is going with this action.

Taiga hears a faint squeak as Dan's expensive dress shoe slides against the polished floor, as he shifts closer to the table, his knee coming to rest against the edge of it, poised just between Taiga's own thighs. He breathes out once, searching Taiga's eyes, then leans in closer. For a moment Taiga thinks Dan is moving in to kiss him, and his eyes widen, but he can't seem to make himself pull away. A second later and Dan veers off that course, instead leaning in close to Taiga's ear. His voice is low, a heavy whisper, and there's that warm breath again against his skin again, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Do not disappoint me again." Come Dan's smooth words, and Taiga could almost swear he can feel Dan's soft lips brushing against the crest of his ear. He lingers in the sensation for just a moment, in the closeness of another warm body, in the intimacy of someone else's touch, in the headiness of breath and scent.

Then he shakes himself from it, grumbling and snatching Dan's hands off and away from his shawl. He lifts a foot and presses it to Dan's stomach, not to kick him, just to shove him away with it. Out of his space, away from his ear and his face and his collarbones. He tells himself he feels nauseated by the scent of smoke and _vetyver_ , tells himself his skin is crawling from the heat of Dan's breath against his skin.

Taiga rises from his lean against the ping pong table, tossing narrowed eyes at Dan as he adjusts his shawl. "I'd be more worried about your other _players_ disappointing you. You know none of them have any idea what they're doing, or what they're really up against."

Dan's friendly and calm demeanor has returned. His gentle smile spreads out on his lips, his hands move to rest casually in his pockets. "It was good to see you again, Hanaya-sensei. I trust you can find your own way out?"

It's not really a question, and Taiga knows it. He pointedly adjusts his shawl one more time, then tucks his driver and gashat into his bag. He adjusts the strap on his shoulder to accommodate for the new lighter weight, and then leaves without another word.

 

Dan keeps his gaze on Hanaya until the door is shut firmly behind him. He's trying to ignore the way his hands feel almost dirty from touching his former colleague, like they're itchy. He rubs his palms against the insides of his pockets, trying to bring some relief from the sensation.

" _Oh_." A playful and childish voice sounds behind him, and Dan doesn't even have to look to know it's Parado. His associate has an uncanny way of moving near soundlessly, or he would if he wasn't constantly carrying around his hand-held and playing games on it. For all that Dan once loved video games, he now finds the blips and beeps make his skin crawl, make his nerves feel like they're on fire. He wouldn't dare separate Parado from his games though, who knows what he'd get up to without them.

Best to keep everything in order, with both his current associates, and his former ones. 

Dan turns in time to watch Parado as he leans against the ping pong table, not unlike Hanaya just was. He reaches for a stack of cash and holds it up in front of his face, eyeing it like he's never seen yen before - and he may not have, come to think. 

"Is it really smart to be opening up that old wound again?" Parado glances past the money, the bills splitting the visage of his face right down the middle. 

"You let me worry about that." Dan reaches for the money and snatches it from Parado's grasp to toss it back down in the pile. "And focus on your own side of things."

"Graphite won't be happy about this." Parado grins wide, like this is the most delightful thought that's occurred to him all day.

"Graphite will do as he's told." Dan says firmly and pointedly, staring down Parado so he gets the message as well. They will both do as they're told, or suffer the consequences.

"Now," Dan smiles gently, the hardness purposefully fading from his gaze again. "I believe you have business to attend to. Keep an eye on Hanaya and the other Riders, as you have been. We still need more data, and I don't want to see any of our players getting a game over before the game has even properly started."

For once, Parado seems to take a hint. He smiles that manic grin of his, pushing himself up off the table. Briefly his face comes very close to Dan's, his eyes searching Dan's gaze. Whatever he finds seems to satisfy him, and he leaves the same way he came. 

Dan spares the pile of money on his table one last lingering gaze. His palms still tingle, not quite itchy anymore, not quite dirty, but... something. Things he hasn't felt in almost five years rising back up within him, like acid in the back of his throat. Heartburn. Heart burn.

He tries to release some of his tension in a sigh, slow an even, his eyes briefly drifting shut. When that fails he moves to the sitting area of his office and settles down. His joints feel stiff, his limbs heavy. As he leans forward over his knees, he brings his palms up to cover his face. 

Glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde. Moth balls and nitrile. New scents mingling with old scents, making him feel dizzy, making him feel sick. When he closes his eyes he sees Hanaya's sneer, when he opens them he's left with the memory of his dismissal.

Dan breathes. In and out. Slow and even. He gently slaps his face a few times, shaking himself from his thoughts and memories.

Then he gets back to work.

**Author's Note:**

> _[Weregild](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weregild), also known as man price, was a value placed on every being and piece of property._
> 
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